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April 25, 2007

Suffering Over Worm Dirt

Laura Bush may think that "No one suffers more than their President and I do," but one very rude Lieutenant Colonel is sure doing his best to pile on to the suffering of the Tillman family. Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, the Army officer who directed the first official inquiry into football star Pat Tillman's death, has blamed the Tillman family's lack of religion for their inability to let Pat go and trust the government.

"His parents continue to ask for it to be looked at," Kauzlarich said. "And that is really their prerogative. And if they have the right backing, the right powerful people in our government to continue to let it happen, then that is the case.

"But there [have] been numerous unfortunate cases of fratricide, and the parents have basically said, 'OK, it was an unfortunate accident.' And they let it go. So this is — I don't know, these people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs."

…In an interview with ESPN.com, Kauzlarich said: "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don't believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing, and now he is no more — that is pretty hard to get your head around that. So I don't know how an atheist thinks. I can only imagine that that would be pretty tough."

Asked by ESPN.com whether the Tillmans' religious beliefs are a factor in the ongoing investigation, Kauzlarich said, "I think so. There is not a whole lot of trust in the system or faith in the system [by the Tillmans]. So that is my personal opinion, knowing what I know."

Asked what might finally placate the family, Kauzlarich said, "You know what? I don't think anything will make them happy, quite honestly. I don't know. Maybe they want to see somebody's head on a platter. But will that really make them happy? No, because they can't bring their son back."

…Mary Tillman, Pat's mother, … casts the family as spiritual, though she said it does not believe in many of the fundamental aspects of organized religion.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with the fact that this whole thing is shady," she said sarcastically, "But it is because we are not Christians."

After a pause, her voice full with emotion, she added, "Pat may not have been what you call a Christian. He was about the best person I ever knew. I mean, he was just a good guy. He didn't lie. He was very honest. He was very generous. He was very humble. I mean, he had an ego, but it was a healthy ego. It is like, everything those [people] are, he wasn't."

As I wrote last week, religious believe is not a necessary prerequisite to being a good person, and sometimes religious people are bad people. I think Pat Tillman, who could have been a multi-millionaire star for the rest of his life and gave that up to serve his country, and the Christian Lt. Col. Kauzlarich, whose callous statements have stabbed Pat's parents in the heart, have proved my point. I would add that logic tells you that someone who believes death opens the door to heaven will value this life less than someone who believes this life is all you have. Perhaps that's why this Christian Administration is so willing to sacrifice so many and why it believes its "suffering" is superior to the suffering of the families whose sons and daughters have died and become "worm dirt."

Nods to Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy for first bringing this sad story to my attention.

Posted by Becky at April 25, 2007 10:03 AM